Graduation Day
by cartchica89
Summary: Dean's mind wanders while he sits through Sam's high school graduation.
1. Chapter 1

Dean was currently sitting in the auditorium of Sam's high school waiting for the ceremony to start. He couldn't believe his baby brother was graduating from high school, it seemed like it was just yesterday when Sam was toddling around tacky motels rooms, 'blankie' trailing behind him…

_Six-year-old Sammy Winchester was standing in his kindergarten class trying not to cry as he looked around the room. All of his friends were surrounded by their parents smiling faces while here he was all by himself. Where's Dean? He thought. Something much have happened to him! After all Dean had made Sammy a promise that he would be there and Dean never broke his promises to his little brother. _

_"Alright class, time to line up." His teacher, Ms. Harvey called. "We have to get ready."_

_Sammy sighed and walked toward the door. He had been standing in line when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Dean standing behind him._

_"Hey squirt." Dean smiled, being sure to keep his surprise hidden._

_"Dean!" Sammy squealed happily. "I couldn't find you, I thought you weren't gonna come."_

_"Sorry it took so long, I had something I had to do." Dean explained._

_"What?" Sammy asked curiously._

_"You'll see." Dean replied. "I'll see you in a few minutes." He said ushering his brother back into line._

_Sammy nodded enthusiastically before giving Dean a hug. "See you!"_

_Dean smiled and walked to join the group of parents. Together they went to the cafeteria and everyone took a seat while Ms. Harvey led her class of graduating kindergarteners to the stage._

_One by one she called each name and watched as they walked toward her, just like they had practiced. She placed a construction paper cap on their heads before handing them their 'diplomas'. _

_"Dean! Look, look at what I got!" Sam yelled running towards Dean, his cap almost slipping off. "I gaduated! I'm a big kid now!"_

_Dean laughed. "You mean you graduated." He corrected._

_"Yeah, yeah, that's what I meant." Sam smiled. "And look, it says my name… right here!" He stabbed his little finger where his name had been printed._

_"It sure does." Dean agreed. _

_"Dean?" Ms. Harvey asked somewhat suspiciously. "Don't you have class, what are you doing here?"_

_"Oh hi Ms. Harvey, I did have class but I got excused because dad and I didn't want Sammy to be alone today." He explained._

_She nodded and smiled. "Well it's good someone's here for Sam. He's such a good kid and after all this is a big day."_

_"Yup." Dean replied._

_"Dean?" Sam asked tugging on his brother's jacket._

_"What squirt?" Dean asked looking down into Sam's eager face._

_"What's that?" He asked pointing to the box behind Dean._

_"Oh that, I don't know." He grinned._

_"Can I open it?" He asked._

_"How do you know it's even for you?" Dean asked teasingly._

_"It says my name! It says Sammy Winchester!" Sam argued back. "It's for me!"_

_Dean put his hands up in mock surrender. "Geez kiddo, don't attack me." He smiled. "Go ahead, open it."_

_Sam set his 'diploma' down and tore the top off of the box. "Cookies! I got cookies! But I thought I wasn't allowed to have cookies, not before dinner!" Sam yelled excitedly. _

_"I think we can make an exception." Dean ruffled Sam's hair a little. "You want to offer some to your friends?"_

_Sam nodded. "Dean." He said putting the box down for a sec._

_"Yeah kiddo." Dean replied._

_"You're the best! I love you!" Sam wrapped his arms around Dean's waist before running off to share his chocolate chip cookies with his classmates._

Dean came out of his memories just in time to hear the start of some girl's speech about the past and how it affected where they were going. He tried to listen for a few minutes before he found himself back in another time listening to kids giving speeches…

_Dean was sitting against a tree on the lower field of his brother's middle school. The graduating eighth graders had walked out, one girl paired with one boy. The speeches had been said and the awards handed out which Dean was quite grateful for. He really didn't feel like listening to someone drone on and on about something he really couldn't give a shit about. In all actuality, there was only one person there who mattered to him… and he was way at the end._

_Dean groaned and put his head back. This was taking forever._

_"You bored too?" A blonde haired girl asked standing behind him._

_"You could say that." Dean replied._

_"Wait, didn't we have English together?" She asked sitting down next to him._

_Dean nodded though he didn't remember her._

_"So who are you here for?" She asked._

_"My kid brother, what about you?" He asked._

_"Sister." If it wasn't for my parents, I'd have ditched a long time ago. I know a way to pass the time quicker." She grinned._

_Dean knew what she was implying and as much fun as that sounded, he didn't want to skip out on the kid. Sam was feeling down in the dumps already, he didn't need Dean adding to it. Sam and John had had a fight a few days ago. John had left on a hunt and Sam was upset that he didn't stick around long enough to go to his graduation. Plus this town hadn't been very kind to Sam. He'd come home almost every day with either a black eye, a split lip or missing or torn papers until Dean had set the record straight that if anyone ever touched his brother again, they would need a handicap placard and a motorized wheelchair for the rest of their lives._

_"Sorry but I'm going to have to pass." Dean replied. "It's nothing against you, I just gotta be here when they call the geek's name."_

_She nodded and walked off._

_Another half hour passed before Sam's name was called and soon after the ceremony ended. Dean got up and walked through the sea of pre-teens before he spotted his mop-headed brother standing by himself. "Sam!" He called walking faster._

_Sam looked up and smiled a little, at least Dean had cared enough to show up._

_"Hey," Dean smiled back and put an arm around Sam's shoulders. "Next year, we're together."_

_"Aren't I lucky?" Sam replied sarcastically._

_"To be going to school with this face, you're damn lucky." Dean answered. "C'mon, let's go. I got something for you."_

_"Dean what?" Sam groaned. His brother's idea of a surprise and his were fairly different._

_"You'll see but it's at home so we gotta go." Dean walked toward the car, Sam following after him._

_"Close your eyes." Dean ordered as they stood outside the front door to their shabby two room house. Sam didn't obey. "Do it or you're not getting your surprise!"_

_"Fine." Sam mumbled placing a hand over his eyes._

_"No peaking." Dean reminded him leading Sam into the kitchen. "Okay, hold on… now open!"_

_Sam removed his hand and looked around the kitchen. On the wall was a sign that said 'Congrats Sammy!' and there was a chocolate cake on the table._

_"You want first piece?" Dean asked moving toward one of the drawers and grabbing a knife. He then pulled out two plates from the cupboard._

_Sam nodded. "Thanks Dean." He said after swallowing a large bite of his chocolate cake. _

_"No problem, I know it's not much but…" Dean smiled sheepishly._

_"It's perfect." He replied._

Dean was brought out of his memories when he heard clapping and cheering. He looked up to see one of Sam's friends cross the stage and accept his diploma. _Thank god!_ He sighed. Luckily, this school was fairly small and he hoped that this part would go quick.

It took longer than Dean anticipated but soon enough they had gotten past a large section of the class and were almost done. A few minutes later, Sam's name was called.

"Samuel Winchester." The principle called and Dean stood when Sam did.

Sam shook hands with the man and accepted his diploma. He smiled when his eyes met Dean's.

"That's my boy!" Dean said proudly.

After Sam had talked with his friends for a few minutes he met up with Dean. "Hey man." Sam smiled.

Dean shook his head as he looked at how grown-up his brother looked. "I can't believe you're graduating." Dean stated.

"I **did** graduate." Sam replied cheekily.

Dean smiled and lightly punched Sam on the arm.

"C'mon, dad and I got something for ya." Dean said leading the way to the car.

"Really?" Sam asked surprised.

"Sammy, I'm offended." Dean feigned hurt but smiled.

They arrived home a few minutes later, both surprised to see John standing on the porch fuming mad, holding something tightly in his hand. The 'party' John and Dean had planned totally forgotten as John held up Sam's acceptance letter.


	2. Graduation Day aftermath

Hey guys, so I wasn't quite sure if I'd ever really put this part up because I just didn't have the motivation really to do it or even knew how I wanted John to react but now... well, all I can say is that I have now had way too much experience with family fights so I felt like this was something I should write. I'll warn you guys that this is not a happy piece of writing but I still hope that you all will enjoy it and you'll let me know what you thought of it. :)_

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_What the hell?_ Dean thought as he shut the engine off and climbed out of the car. Their dad had been in a rather good mood when he had left a little over two hours ago to go to Sam's graduation and he had no idea why his dad now looked like he wanted to throttle someone. Dean quickly casted a look at his brother and sensed that Sam seemed to know more about what was going on than he did as his brother's face was extremely pale. _What the fuck did you do now?_ He wondered to himself trying to figure out if there was any leftover anger between the two from their last fight a little over a week ago. "Sam? Dad, what's going on?" He asked when his mind came up blank for any possible explanations.

Dean watched as their dad stormed down the porch steps and headed towards Sam, one of his fists raised as the other held the piece of paper tightly. Recognizing the signs that this was going to escalate into a full blown Winchester brawl, Dean stepped forward trying to place himself in between his brother and dad but John shoved Dean away and used his free hand to roughly grab the front of Sam's shirt. "Nice news Sam," Their dad growled out in a sarcastic tone of voice as he got right up into Sam's face.

"DAD!" Dean yelled as he worked to get between the two noticing as he did so that the stubbornness Sam usually had whenever the two fought had seemed to be replaced with shock. "God dammit Dad, let go of him!" Dean ordered as he fought to loosen his dad's grip on Sam's jacket. He knew that it was fairly likely that one of them would end up getting punched if they weren't separated right now.

Sam glanced down to look at the now crumpled piece of paper his dad was holding and swallowed thickly. "Where… where did you find that?" He asked. He was sure that he had left it hidden at the bottom of his duffle bag.

"What, was I not supposed to know what you were planning Sam?" John asked, a mix of fury and worry causing his blood to boil. How dare his son keep this from him?!

"Dad, let me explain!" Sam implored as he wrapped his hands around his dad's wrists trying to loosen the older man's grip on his shirt collar.

"Frickin' hell dad, you're gonna strangle him!" Dean shouted with his jaw clenched shut as he tried to push his dad back a step. This was easily the worst fight that they had ever had and Dean still had no clue what had caused it. He had heard his dad say Sam was planning something but he doubted that his younger brother had any tricks up his sleeve because as argumentative as Sam was, he wasn't conniving or manipulative.

John ignored Dean and kept his blazing eyes on Sam who looked both a mix of terrified and pissed off now that the initial shock had worn off. "You want to explain why you have a fucking acceptance letter Sam?!" He roared, shaking Sam roughly with every word he spat.

"Acceptance letter…" Dean drifted off, his brows drawing together in confusion as he paused for a moment to look between his two family members. "Acceptance letter to where?"

"Apparently, Sam here thinks he's too good to keep his family informed of his whereabouts." John snarled. "Sammy boy's decided to go to college. Isn't that great Dean, too bad we didn't know about it beforehand though… maybe we could have helped him pack his bags." John shook Sam a couple more times before he shoved his youngest son towards the dirt road and away from the house.

"What?" Dean asked feeling a sense of shock come over him as he watched Sam stumble for a moment and then put his hands out to brace himself. _Sam got accepted to college… which means he's leaving which means I can't watch over him_ he thought, feeling his gut begin to churn before he turned angry and hurt eyes to his brother. "Thanks for the notice Sam." Dean smirked sarcastically. "When were you planning on leaving?"

"I was gonna tell you guys, I swear… I just…" Sam drifted off when he realized that neither one of his family members looked all that convinced.

_Oh, you told us alright_ Dean sarcastically thought.

"How the hell are you going to pay for it Sam? What, you got some magical pile of cash lying around that we don't know about because the last time I checked, you were a damn lousy poker player!" John pushed.

"I got a scholarship… it um… it pays for everything, we don't have to worry about the money." He offered knowing that the scholarship was the main reason he could go to college. Without that help, he was pretty sure that his dreams of becoming lawyer and getting away from this life would be nothing more than a pipe dream.

"Well, isn't that convenient." John huffed as he held up the piece of paper insuring Sam's place at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. "Lucky you Sam, lucky you… what, so now you're just going to go live your apple pie life and be done with us, is that it?"

Sam shook his head. "No, I… I was hoping that maybe… maybe we could work something out? Kind of like how Bobby does it…" He drifted off again. _I was hoping that you guys would be proud of me_ he thought to himself. Getting into a top school like Stanford with a full scholarship wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do.

John didn't seem to be paying attention while Dean was feeling immensely conflicted. One half of him wanted to strangle his brother. What the hell was Sam thinking? How the hell could Sam just leave? What, was he going to disappear in the middle of the night and let his dad and brother think that some evil creature had gotten him? And who the hell was going to watch his back while he was at Stanford because knowing his brother, he'd probably have his head buried too deeply in a book to be able to pay attention to his surroundings. And on the other hand, a small part of Dean felt relieved that his brother was going, was getting away from all of the death and destruction that seemed to follow their family everywhere they went.

_He got a scholarship_ Dean thought to himself before he internally laughed a little despite the empty feeling that was starting to build in his chest. _Guess being such a hardcore geek actually paid off._ Dean was brought out of his gut-churning debate when he noticed that their dad had headed back inside the small house. _Maybe we all just need to cool down_ Dean thought, hoping that if he could get his hot-headed family members to relax then maybe they could either convince Sam to stay or at least part on civil terms.

John returned a moment later with what Dean recognized as Sam's duffle bag. The bag wasn't even zipped up and Dean could tell that it didn't contain all of his brother's things, few as that might be.

_No, no, no, no!_ Dean silently screamed as it begun to sink in just how serious of a fight this was. "Dad?" He questioned warily and biting his lip in worry.

John thrust the canvas bag at his youngest son's chest, the haphazardly packed clothes spilling out of it when it landed on the ground. He watched as Sam stood silent, tears brimming underneath the surface and his hands clenched into fists.

Dean felt torn on whether to sock his brother in the face or reassure him that there was some way to work this shitty situation out. Hell, a part of him wanted to sock their dad in the face right now.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" John snarled with his arms crossed over his chest. "You wanted to go, there's your stuff, pick it up and get!"

"I… dad, I wait…" Sam sputtered as he tried to figure out some way to calm the situation down. Sure, he hadn't wanted to stay in this life moving from town to town every couple of weeks but this was not how he had wanted his goodbyes to go. He had hoped that maybe if he could get his dad to realize that he could do both, going to college and helping out on hunts on his breaks then maybe, just maybe his dad might be proud of him. He had thought for sure that Dean would at least clap him on the back and give him some left-handed compliment about being a geek. As he glanced over at his brother though, it was clear that Dean wasn't about to congratulate him in any way, shape or form.

"Well guess what Sam, you can't walk away from family without them turning their backs on you so consider this. If you leave… if you go pack up your shit then don't you fucking dare call me or Dean again, do you understand me? If you want out, you get out and you don't get back in!" John yelled before heading back into the cabin and slamming the door shut behind him, effectively closing off any more attempts Sam had planned on making to reason with his family.

_All I want is to get an education and to make something of myself_ Sam thought before he bent down to begin gathering up his belongings. He kept his face hidden behind his bangs so that hopefully his brother wouldn't see the devastation displayed clearly in his eyes.

_Are we really kicking him out?_ Dean asked himself thinking that their dad's reaction had been a bit harsh. Looking at his brother's slumped shoulders and how Sam would wipe his face every couple of minutes, Dean knew that Sam had been immensely hurt by their dad's eviction and he stooped down to help his brother collect his things. "Sam," He started as he dusted off one of his brother's shirts that fallen out of the canvas bag.

Sam shook his head and avoided eye contact with Dean even as he took the shirt from him. "Save it Dean, it's alright."

_No it isn't_ Dean silently argued but seeing as how his brother didn't want to discuss it and he at least wanted their final moments together to be peaceful, he let it go. A moment later, Sam stood and began walking down the dirt road. _I can't let him go… not like this_ Dean thought as he cleared his throat. "Hey Sam," He called, watching as his brother paused in his steps but didn't turn around. "Forget what dad said, alright? You ah… you change your mind or anything, just call me 'kay?"

At first Dean thought that maybe his brother was going to ignore him and that they had really cut the kid out of their lives for good but then Sam gave a small nod. "Bye Dean." Sam whispered before he continued on his way.

"Yeah, bye Sammy." Dean replied, his voice just as soft. Dean stood there for several minutes watching until Sam disappeared around the slight bend in the road. _He's gone… he's really gone_ Dean thought before he reached into his pocket and grabbed the Impala's keys. He couldn't stay here now, not with knowing that their dad had cruelly tossed Sam out on his own for something that deep down, Dean felt really proud about.

~DW/SW~

Once inside the cabin, John had sunk down into the nearest chair and hung his head in hands trying to control his breathing. _What the hell did I just do?_ He asked himself. _I threw him out… oh… oh God…_ John felt sick to his stomach as that realization dawned on him. He had just tossed his youngest son out into a world that he knew was dangerous and without any sense of protection. A moment later, John heard the sound of gravel kicking up and knew that Dean had left as well. Moving quickly, John turned around and emptied his stomach of all of its contents all the while thinking how he had just destroyed what had been left of his and Mary's small family in a matter of minutes.

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So, how was that? I hope it was alright and that you guys liked even if it isn't the most cheerful thing I've ever written. BTW, I'm on a little writing streak so hopefully I'll have some more updates for all of you soon. I'm thinking I'll post another one of my wee!chesters one-shots either later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for reading this short little story and I hope to hear from all of you! :)


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